AND
l last Monday I promised balance of official measures around sargassum in the previous six -year term. He had to deal in early 2019 with an arrival of the seaweed of enormous magnitude. It was described as Ecological disaster
. But President Andrés Manuel López Obrador declared in June of that year that it was a problem inherited from the previous administrations that decreed irresponsibly emergencies for said seaweed, to do business
and Magnified to question your government
. He argued to be A minor matter, not serious and with solution
. He commissioned it to the Secretariat of the Navy and an inter -institutional commission chaired by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat).
The theme went to second term in 2020 when not arriving much sargazo. But Covid. The following year, still with thousands of dead for the pandemic, the algae arrived in large quantities. Less in 2022. But in 2023 it was much older. For the umpteenth time, there was no technical and human capacity to stop it in the sea; nor pick it up on the coast and then deposit it in adequate places. Vague initiatives to turn it into an economic good. Nor coordination between the parties involved in solving the problem. The fruits of the aforementioned inter -institutional and navy commission are unknown.
While the data and reality showed the failures in the coordination tasks to control the algae, 50 days before leaving President López Obrador said that, thanks to the Secretariat of the Navy, his administration resolved the arrival of the sargazo. That solution was not supported by reports from said Secretariat or Semarnat. He surprised the members of the tourism sector, the government of Quintana Roo and their residents.
Like the scientific community, highly 44 of its members belonging to 21 institutions among which the Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico and its Unit in Puerto Morelos stand out; the Center for Research and Higher Education of Ensenada (CICESE); The universities of Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Campeche and Veracruz, as well as the members of the Research Consortium of El Gulfo de México (CIGOM). They work despite the little financial support they receive. In the United States, the universities of Florida and the National Oceanography and Atmosphere Administration.
They have been studying the most viable strategies for years so that the sargazo impacts as little as possible the social, economic and environment of the Mexican coast and that of the 19 countries of the Great Caribbean. Part of his works were published in two editions of The ecological day (August 2019 and March 2023), coordinated by Horacio de la Cueva, Del Cicise, and Edward M. Peters, of the Cigom. In both editions, specialists explain that there is a greater arrival due to sea currents, climate change and the increase in the sea of the sargassum (3.5 million square kilometers) because it receives more nutrients from the great downloads of fertilizers via the rivers that take them to the sea. They insist on the urgency of turning the algae into a good that generates employment and supplies to prepare, for example, fuel, food for animals, fertilizers or construction materials. The actions to achieve this are not specified, since the government lacks the required financial and technical resources. They have existing specialized companies.
Do not forget that, by decomposing through the sun’s rays, sargasso is dangerous to human health, as it generates hydrogen sulfide. And very harmful to corals, wetlands, mangroves and several endangered species, such as turtles. The turquoise blue of the Mexican Caribbean disappears due to the turbidity of the water. And under tons of algae, its white beaches.
The current administration was received this year an arrival never seen: more than 100 thousand tons. It is impossible to avoid its arrival to almost the entire coast of Quintana Roo. If we stick to the official statements, now there is institutional coordination, especially the Semarnat with the government of said entity. And programs to use the algae in diverse goods. Hopefully everything is not in the past six -year term: promises and optimistic statements, instead of achievements.
